Photo: CFP

 For Chinese film director Wang Quanan, Berlin has again proved to be a lucky place: His latest work, the historical epic White Deer Plain (Bai Lu Yuan), which has been long anticipated by domestic moviegoers, has successfully made the cut for this year's Berlin International Film Festival (BIFF).

Wang has taken home a Golden Bear Award for his drama Tuya's Wedding in 2006 and a Silver Bear Award for the screenplay of the movie Apart Together in 2010. This year, his new movie is to compete with 17 other films at the 62nd BIFF, which is scheduled to kick off Thursday.

Chinese entertainment media has been set abuzz in speculation over the announcement, which is widely regarded as a pleasant surprise for Chinese film industry. Two blockbusters, Zhang Yimou's The Flowers of War and Tsui Hark's Flying Swords of Dragon Gate were both turned down for entrance in the competition, following devastating letdowns at the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Unlike the rather pessimistic tone found in articles speculating whether Flowers and Flying Swords would snag awards in the international film festival circuit, domestic film critics are quite positive this time, with many saying that it is highly possible for Wang to earn another Golden Bear.

Wang himself had said that compared to Tuya's Wedding and Apart Together, he would like to call White Deer Plain a "real big movie" of his, and was "very excited" with the epic.

"White Deer Plain is a rare Chinese film with excellent quality, which would be the highlight in both the film festival circuit and the 2012 Chinese Culture Year in Germany," Dieter Kosslick, president of the film festival, was widely quoted as saying in Chinese media.